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You may recall this cape honeysuckle bush (Tecoma capensis) from a previous post. It used to be a 4-meter / 12-foot giant with scraggly, tangled stems shooting up and out every which way. Its messy, wiry state was largely due to years of neglect combined with low light levels because of a dense magnolia tree to the sunward side. You can see it in its original state in the first picture of this post from July, 2011 (look for a few magnolia leaves pushing into the very top of the frame).

With the magnolia tree removed, it found itself suddenly in full sun. It did not like the change! The leaves turned yellow and some dropped off. It was no longer adapted to its environment, so I chopped it right down to a set of stumps no higher than my knees. It has since grown back with much healthier, dark green glossy leaves and now it’s blooming again. I’ve been keeping it trimmed to no higher than … well, me. I won’t let it get any bigger, and if it doesn’t like that, too bad!

Some people say that cape honeysuckles are evil, invasive African aliens that do not belong in California gardens. If they are simply left to their own devices, I agree wholeheartedly. Left alone, one of these monsters can take over vast landscapes. But… these are gorgeous plants, which can be tamed if they receive regular, persistent attention. In this case, top growth is pruned back, as well as the ground-level shoots. Any additional shoots that sprout from subsurface runners are also removed very quickly. The “evil” giant has been tamed.

Please, folks, no outraged comments about how I am harboring evil aliens. I keep lots of native plants too – and all of the invasives in my gardens, if they are allowed at all, are heavily and persistently controlled. If you can’t take the time and effort to do that, DON’T KEEP INVASIVE ALIENS IN YOUR GARDEN!

Let’s have a closer look at its fluorescent orange-red flowers.

The humans do love these flowers, but there’s someone else in the garden who likes them even more, currently perching in the shadowed branches of the princess flower tree…

What, no picture in the sun, showing off his glorious red and green shiny colors? I’ve been trying to catch him in a good portrait for months, but he moves very, very fast! As soon as I have a good picture I’ll post it here.

Like this:

As the weather cools and the rains begin, the garden explodes into glorious color. There’s a lot happening here. Let’s take a tour!

In the foreground just left of center, a Leonotus bush pokes up tall stems bearing bursts of orange flowers. It’s a drought-tolerant bush from South Africa that is well-loved by pollinators.

At the far left, a Pyracantha shrub also pushes up tall stems, bent down by huge bunches of bright red berries. Before I took over this garden it was a huge, dense, unhappy, unhealthy, never-blooming, spherical monstrosity, frequently shaped by evil gardeners with their noisy gas-powered trimmers. I violently chopped it right down to stumps (what fun that was!) and it grew back. Now it is a noble creature of beautiful form, whose berries are just getting to the point where the birds will feast. Much better, don’t you think?

Against the wall in back is a large and happy princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana) which drops its crazy purple petals all over the walkway. It’s related to geraniums.

In the middle ground behind the Leonotus is a huge, dense bush of Salvia, possibly S. nemorosa. Its abundant purple flower stalks are serious food sources for black carpenter bees, honey bees, various flies, wasps, and of course our local hummingbirds. What a contributor!

To the extreme right, a few bright orange flowers shine from among the dark green leaves of a cape honeysuckle bush (Tecoma capensis). Another African native, this plant used to be a huge, scraggly beast struggling in the deep shade of a magnolia tree that is no longer there. I chopped it right back down to the ground, and now the new growth is being severely pruned as needed so that it is no more than a few feet high. Nonetheless, it is happy and showing lots of buds and flowers, which the hummingbirds are enjoying.

Although it shows no brilliant color other than green, I must also mention the avocado sapling poking up at right of center, between the cape honeysuckle and the Leonotus. Just a few months ago it was a small sprout with only a few glossy green leaves. Soon, it will be the tallest plant in the garden. My plan is to let it grow tall, but to prune off the lower branches. That way its remaining lowest branches will eventually shade the currently summer-sun-blasted bank below the fence (off the picture at the left) while its lack of lower growth will allow the sun to still bless the rest of the garden. Maybe in some years it will even start dropping edible fruit.

What a joy it is to watch the seasons change in the deep nature garden!

Like this:

Summer is here and my small patch of managed wilderness is bursting with life. Nestled between two apartment buildings, this little chunk of land has evolved a lot in recent months.

The biggest recent changes were the removals of two large sources of shade, exposing the garden to full sun during most of the day.

First, an old magnolia tree came out because the property owner did not like how its roots were rucking up the driveway. He had a good point, actually. Even though the tree was a noble and beautiful being, its sudden removal has changed the garden for the better, allowing many new plants to thrive in the greater light.

Above: The second removal was the large old cape honeysuckle that used to fully own a large section of the space. In this view from the balcony above the garden you can see the empty space it left behind, covered with a mixture of old magnolia leaves and seeded eco-compost. It was cut down to a stump because it was having a lot of trouble adapting to the new, sunny conditions. By cutting it down I pressed reset, and now the new growth will be properly shaped and adapted for the current conditions.

Above: In the center of the empty space, the stump of the cape honeysuckle sends up a mound of new green shoots. I’ll let it grow into a decent size bush, but it will not be allowed to take over the space the way it did before I chopped it down. I want to keep it, even though it is considered an invasive alien, because of how much the local hummingbirds love its orange-red flowers. Once it gets bigger, it will bloom again.

Meanwhile, the layer of magnolia leaves and seeded compost has begun to evolve into a new ecosystem. The leaves were there because of the old magnolia tree that was removed. Rather than scrape down to bare dirt, I decided to keep the leaves, letting them decompose naturally, mixed with the compost. Some people have told me “Magnolia leaves never decompose!” Watch and see, it’s already happening.

Although the summer sun on the thin layer of compost has prevented many sprouts from coming up, beneath the leaves are countless sheltered nooks and crannies where critters like sowbugs, snails, crickets, centipedes, and earwigs have taken up residence.

As the leaves decay, this open space will gradually fill in. Below: at the edges, various plants encroach by sending up shoots from underground runners.

Above: The main feature of the larger east section of the garden is this dense thicket, dominated by a purple flowering Salvia. It also contains trailing Nasturtium, several other species of smaller Salvia plants, and a large patch of rosemary (visible peeking out at the right). In the foreground, an avocado seedling pokes up.

At the base of the avocado seedling, a critter shelter has just been added. It’s just a few bricks and a paving stone, but it’s a dry place where snails, spiders, and others can find protection.

Critter shelters can also be made of wood, especially if the wood is old and rotting. In fact, an old rotting log is such a great critter house that one should be a part of every ecogarden. If it gets interesting mushrooms after the rain, so much the better!

Another great critter house can be made from a simple pile of rough, natural rocks.

Let’s look inside. There are a few snails in there and a couple of sowbugs, but not much else today. I have seen earwigs, centipedes, millipedes, and crickets. Last week there were four big female wolf spiders carrying egg sacs, but they ran away before I could photograph them.

If an ecogarden is located in contact with a natural area, the critter shelters could contain much more interesting creatures like frogs, toads, or newts. I doubt there will be any frogs in this one, but a newt might happen by.

Critter shelters are also located in several other places in this garden, some in the sun and some in the shade. They are important! Try to leave them undisturbed as much as possible.

All through the garden are many delightful little scenes, like this wild strawberry, mint and a rock in front of the bearded irises. Those sweet little berries were consumed by me immediately after this picture was taken. Yum!

Above: At the north end of the garden is the vine wall (a fence, actually) where many kinds of climbers compete for space. Right now the morning glory vines are blooming in this section. Because of the lush, dense foliage this vine wall is also a fantastic critter shelter.

Maybe this space is small, and maybe it looks like just another suburban garden that has been allowed to grow a bit wild, but for me this humble mini-landscape is nothing less than a small treasure, attracting butterflies, birds, and countless other wonderful visitors and inhabitants.

Watch these pages as my little ecogarden continues to grow and evolve!

The old, classic post “what is an ecogarden?“has pictures of the garden before the magnolia tree was removed. At that time, there were still some large bushes owning much of the north half of the garden.

There’s also an upstairs container garden, whose state will be reported in a future blog post.

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What is "deep nature"? It is the most diverse, pristine form of ecosystem on Earth. It is old growth forest, untrawled seabed, unplowed prairie. It is nature in its deepest state. Hundreds of thousands of years ago the whole planet was in this state.

What is a "nature garden"? It is a garden (a space with plants and landscape tended by a human) where the goal is to recreate some image of what "nature" is supposed to look like.

What is a "deep nature garden"? It is a nature garden where the goal is to create as diverse, vibrantly alive, ecologically complex and resilient plant and animal community as possible.

Such a garden is not only beautiful, it is fascinating to explore. Each corner features an unusual herb, or maybe an interesting flower. Of course, there will be butterflies and birds, along with lots of other critters.

people say…

In a business dominated by mow and blow lawn trimmers, he is something different – he reminds me of Merlin in T.H. White’s The Once and Future King. -- M.M.

The garden grows not only outside of you, but inside of you, as you learn the ways of nature and begin to discover the way of nature within yourself. -- L.V.

Cool garden! Wild-looking, but not at all wild. Tamed with multi-dimensional, sensitive awareness of human respecting the planet, not as resources, but as offerings from a generous, beautiful and oh-so-alive orb in the vast expanse of space. -- M.W.

I'm excited to watch the ongoing transformation of my own garden as Nick's expert green thumb (and the rest of his fingers) are applied to it. … With every visit, my garden becomes more beautiful and more ecologically healthy. -- V.K.

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